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First West of England (Bristol, Bath & The West)

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swifty

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Noted 66940 on the 44, 42910 on the 48A and 66347 on the X74. An ALX400 was also on the 0820 37 arrival into Bristol this morning, that always used to be a Dart.
 

the101

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16 Jun 2015
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Regarding the gas 'deckers, they will (if First gets the money) be Scania-based E400 MMCs. It is only Scania which is pursuing the gas-powered double-decker at the moment and hence there are no other possibilities as to who will build them...

Further to the speculation about gas-powered 'deckers in Bristol, Scania is unveiling its chassis tomorrow, after which it will go to Falkirk for bodying. The Dft's announcement about who has successfully bid for LEBS money is expected around the end of the month, so it shouldn't be long until there is a concrete announcement about the Bristol project one way or the other.
 

ValleyLines142

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Sorry but I didn't format that well. The PVR for Service 5 is 4 vehicles.

That's okay, I meant there are five Darts usually in use on the 72, not five as in from Route 5 :lol:

I'm guessing that now four E400s have moved from Hengrove to Weston the X5 is now fully double decker?

I've always looked at 47435-47448 on the 8/9, 47449-47465 for the 24 and 47567-47571 for the 24 also. Saying that, 47435 was on the 24 last week and 47568 was on the 9.

There is a picture of 39191 on test near Hengrove. Have to say it looks fantastic!
 

TheGrandWazoo

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That's okay, I meant there are five Darts usually in use on the 72, not five as in from Route 5 :lol:

I'm guessing that now four E400s have moved from Hengrove to Weston the X5 is now fully double decker?

I've always looked at 47435-47448 on the 8/9, 47449-47465 for the 24 and 47567-47571 for the 24 also. Saying that, 47435 was on the 24 last week and 47568 was on the 9.

There is a picture of 39191 on test near Hengrove. Have to say it looks fantastic!

Have 4 e400s moved - I'd only seen 2 listed( 33506/47) but I'm not surprised. So much going on!

In terms of Streetlites, I typed in "first 47450" into Flickr as a trial. 6 had it caught on 8/9. 3 on the 24, and 1 each on 90, 20, 71 (plus 3 I couldn't place - blank desti). Do the same for 47442 and its 11 on the 8/9 and 3 shots on the 24/25 - shows they do get about even if the plan is otherwise. :D Mind you, that's balanced compared to Bath's route allocations!!

Got a link for 39191? When did the last dual door bus operate for First/Cityline in Bristol? Ex London Lances on 8/9?
 

THarris123

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Wells, Somerset
47459 was one of the Streetlites working 50/51 yesterday.

I'm amazed there are still singles on double deck boards - surely most of the ex Leicester vehicles should be running now? I'm sure we aren't short of deckers. What ever happened to those Yorkshire ALXs coming down to us?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Interesting is that Solars 65724-6 from Weymouth have apparently appeared at Bath on loan as they're short of vehicles - taken from FHD forum.

I assume they're bringing in loans to replace the white B7s?
 

ValleyLines142

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Have 4 e400s moved - I'd only seen 2 listed( 33506/47) but I'm not surprised. So much going on!

Yes, 33508 and 33550 have gone over as well.

TheGrandWazoo said:
In terms of Streetlites, I typed in "first 47450" into Flickr as a trial. 6 had it caught on 8/9. 3 on the 24, and 1 each on 90, 20, 71 (plus 3 I couldn't place - blank desti). Do the same for 47442 and its 11 on the 8/9 and 3 shots on the 24/25 - shows they do get about even if the plan is otherwise. :D Mind you, that's balanced compared to Bath's route allocations!!

Yeah, you'll find the odd one will snake off onto something different. There does generally seem to be a pattern though (most of the time anyway!)

As for Bath, don't even get me started on their allocations! The only routes which I can say have a somewhat standard allocation is the 14 and the X39, and even they can be a little bit off! When I got the 319 from Kingswood the other day (which turned out to be 32937), I had no idea what would appear! :lol: we all know about that though.

Edit: Saying that, 47463 and 47568 are both on the 8/9 today :lol:

TheGrandWazoo said:
Got a link for 39191? When did the last dual door bus operate for First/Cityline in Bristol? Ex London Lances on 8/9?

If you're a member of the First Bus Enthusiasts group on Facebook, it's on there. Request to join the group and one of the mods should add you on virtually straight away.

If not, I'll copy the link later :)
 
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TheGrandWazoo

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Yes, 33508 and 33550 have gone over as well.



Yeah, you'll find the odd one will snake off onto something different. There does generally seem to be a pattern though (most of the time anyway!)

As for Bath, don't even get me started on their allocations! The only routes which I can say have a somewhat standard allocation is the 14 and the X39, and even they can be a little bit off! When I got the 319 from Kingswood the other day (which turned out to be 32937), I had no idea what would appear! :lol: we all know about that though.

Edit: Saying that, 47463 and 47568 are both on the 8/9 today :lol:



If you're a member of the First Bus Enthusiasts group on Facebook, it's on there. Request to join the group and one of the mods should add you on virtually straight away.

If not, I'll copy the link later :)

Don't do facebook - It's evil <(

I'd not seen any on those enviros going over - I thought it would be more than two in order to have some spares so that makes sense

The Streetlites may have been planned to sit on certain routes but they tend to roam around. Certainly, 47435-48 tend to be on the 8/9 but they can stray whilst the others seem to be regarded more as a pool to cover the 8/9, 24, 72 and whatever else comes along.

With Bath, the 1,6,7 and 179 tend to be solidly Solo, the 5 is usually B7L, whilst the 13 is usually e200. It's the 37/38 and 319 where the real variety is.

When I had the 319 (with 32937) last week, there was a B7 Gemini and a B7 ALX also working it; to be honest, as long as the vehicle turns up on time and has seats, I'm not too fussed if they're the same type!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
47459 was one of the Streetlites working 50/51 yesterday.

I'm amazed there are still singles on double deck boards - surely most of the ex Leicester vehicles should be running now? I'm sure we aren't short of deckers. What ever happened to those Yorkshire ALXs coming down to us?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


I assume they're bringing in loans to replace the white B7s?

The white B7s are on loan from Wrightbus to cover the late delivery of vehicles to enable cascades into WoE - I wonder if these have headed up from Weymouth because of delays in getting Yorkshire deckers down?
 

CD

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Now that the "Silly Season" is over, I ventured to Bristol yesterday to get some of the ex Leicester B7TLs.
I was interested to see on my return how a Streetdeck would cope with the evening schedule which allows one hour from departing Bristol BS to departing Wells BS.
35162 departed Bristol BS on 2035 376 21 minutes late. Very light traffic and very few stops as there were not many passengers. 24 late by Farington Gurney, 25 late Wells and 25 late Oakfield Rd Street. The driver was going as fast as the vehicle and speed limits would allow.

I see the mystery of 42557 has been solved, it is now with First Essex.
 
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Whiteway215

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Bath
Looks like Hengrove will be completely DDA compliant if this continues.

It should bring a more accurate prediction that Bath will see new vehicles this year.

So that should be only 32940/1 left at Hengrove. And yet last year this time Hengrove had more non DDA compliant vehicles than LH and Bath had about 7/8 non DDA vehicles and now has 13!

Do we know what's replaced the Tridents at Hengrove? Have 32349-54 moved over to Bristol?

I note there may be only two Tridents 32940/1 remaining at Hengrove. What services are these likely to be used on?
 

TheGrandWazoo

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.


I see the mystery of 42557 has been solved, it is now with First Essex.

Not a surprise on 42557 - moved to Clacton??
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Noted 66940 on the 44, 42910 on the 48A and 66347 on the X74. An ALX400 was also on the 0820 37 arrival into Bristol this morning, that always used to be a Dart.

Is that a Bath Dart or a bit of number swapping (e.g. 42901?)
 

swifty

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Not a surprise on 42557 - moved to Clacton??
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


Is that a Bath Dart or a bit of number swapping (e.g. 42901?)

Nope, a cock up on my part, 42896 (WX05RUY).
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
If you're a member of the First Bus Enthusiasts group on Facebook, it's on there. Request to join the group and one of the mods should add you on virtually straight away.

If not, I'll copy the link later :)

Here we go, looks quite nice in that blue tbh!

https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.ne...=cd6cda15030e1d4e0734c6b005196531&oe=5747EF41
 

baza585

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1 Aug 2010
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Interesting is that Solars 65724-6 from Weymouth have apparently appeared at Bath on loan as they're short of vehicles - taken from FHD forum.

Utmost respect for Marc Reddy and the FHD management team who didn't do what I would have done and sent 44916-8 back........<D<D
 

matt_splat

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19 May 2012
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897
A few things from the Bath Customer Pannal meeting last night

Plans for the 174 to serve norton seem to be looking likely but its proving a issue as they would really like it to serve the same stop of the other busses that run Bath - Norton and not the town hall stop.

the 37 and 319 should be fully deckers before the end of the month

the Fast track scania's will go to westbury as there are less drivers to type train

possible plans for route consultation in the future ahead of changes

it sounds like we can expect to see some changes in April as well to other routes
 

THarris123

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A few things from the Bath Customer Pannal meeting last night

Plans for the 174 to serve norton seem to be looking likely but its proving a issue as they would really like it to serve the same stop of the other busses that run Bath - Norton and not the town hall stop.

the 37 and 319 should be fully deckers before the end of the month

the Fast track scania's will go to westbury as there are less drivers to type train

possible plans for route consultation in the future ahead of changes

it sounds like we can expect to see some changes in April as well to other routes

Not particularly surprising about 319, but i'm a bit surprised about 37 getting deckers.

Hopefully my constant moaning to First has done something about 174 - it'll be interesting to see what happens, as well as plans for other routes.

Fast track Scanias? Is that the ex Slough and ex Weymouth Scanias (65724-6)?

Thanks as usual for updating us Matt.
 

1905 Group

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Very unusual working right now, 32007 (I think, one of the purple ALX400s at least and fully branded so not a new repaint) on a 1 to Westbury! Any ideas?
 

trolleyman

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Very unusual working right now, 32007 (I think, one of the purple ALX400s at least and fully branded so not a new repaint) on a 1 to Westbury! Any ideas?

32006 & 32007 were parked up t Cabot around 1500 - where you normally see a few Abus vechiles
 

THarris123

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Very unusual working right now, 32007 (I think, one of the purple ALX400s at least and fully branded so not a new repaint) on a 1 to Westbury! Any ideas?

Hmm how odd. Maybe they're planning on renaming the 265 or introducing a new service to Westbury. Think I saw a purple ALX in Bristol the other day too.
 

TheGrandWazoo

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Not particularly surprising about 319, but i'm a bit surprised about 37 getting deckers.

Hopefully my constant moaning to First has done something about 174 - it'll be interesting to see what happens, as well as plans for other routes.

Fast track Scanias? Is that the ex Slough and ex Weymouth Scanias (65724-6)?

Thanks as usual for updating us Matt.

Agree about the 37 and 319 - the 319 may justify deckers on a number of runs though the 37 does have the odd load into the girl's school that requires a DD as Swifty mentioned a few weeks back.

The issue with the 174 is as I mentioned - if it doesn't go via Chili, it struggles to serve the same stops in MSN.

The Scanias 65724-6 were originally allocated to FastTrack duties in Reading and still retain part of the livery IIRC
 

THarris123

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Agree about the 37 and 319 - the 319 may justify deckers on a number of runs though the 37 does have the odd load into the girl's school that requires a DD as Swifty mentioned a few weeks back.

The issue with the 174 is as I mentioned - if it doesn't go via Chili, it struggles to serve the same stops in MSN.

The Scanias 65724-6 were originally allocated to FastTrack duties in Reading and still retain part of the livery IIRC

Thanks for that - thought it was!
 

1905 Group

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Hmm how odd. Maybe they're planning on renaming the 265 or introducing a new service to Westbury. Think I saw a purple ALX in Bristol the other day too.

Yes, 1 to Westbury on Trym, although only displaying Westbury. I hope to see it again so I can get a photo.
 

THarris123

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Just seen a 55 reg B7 on 48A and a dart on 42.

47567 and 47571 on 24
47568 and 47569 on 8/9
So i assume these cover boards from a PVR increase from last year, then there's a couple of darts spare for other stuff - overall Hengrove should have deckers on 36 and there may well be a couple of singles left for spare work which then end up on some decker boards. Still a bit surprised to have singles on DD routes at LH.
 

1905 Group

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And it was 32007 not 32006
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
And I saw WX55 TZA the other day on the A370 with just Temple Meads Station on the front display, and a load of scrolling squiggles on the side and rear displays. Any idea about what it was doing? Possibly rail replacement?
 

iantherev

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And it was 32007 not 32006
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
And I saw WX55 TZA the other day on the A370 with just Temple Meads Station on the front display, and a load of scrolling squiggles on the side and rear displays. Any idea about what it was doing? Possibly rail replacement?

Very possibly - there was engineering work last weekend.
 

DaveHarries

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possible plans for route consultation in the future ahead of changes

it sounds like we can expect to see some changes in April as well to other routes
It seems like they have already made a bit of a start on this: a consultation on Service 5 (City Centre - Oldbury Court) has opened on 6th January and is scheduled to remain open until 23rd January. This page also says that another consultation on services 42-45 and parts of the 17, 17A, 81 & 319 is coming soon.
http://www.firstgroup.com/bristol-bath-and-west/more/customer-consultations

Resulting changes to Service 5 in response to the consultation will come into effect 24-Apr-2016.

HTIOI,
Dave
 

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